The end of the Graf Spee

The German "pocket battleship" Admiral Graf Spee scuttled herself at 10. 55 British time last night.

She had lifted anchor at 8. 45, and at 9. 30 - the limit of the time set by the Uruguayan Government for her stay at Montevideo - she set sail.

Three miles from shore the remnant of the crew who had remained on board were loaded on to two tugs and a barge, which pulled away from the battleship. Then there were three explosions and she went down.

The German News Agency reported early this morning that Hitler gave the order for the scuttling of the ship.

Thus the seal was set on the British victory of Wednesday, when the light cruisers, the Achilles, the Ajax, and the Exeter, crippled the powerful battleship and forced her into the temporary refuge of the neutral harbour.

The cost of the victory in British lives became known yesterday. Five officers and 56 men lost their lives in the Exeter, seven men in the Ajax, and four (as already announced) in the Achilles - a total death-roll of 72. Thirty-six were killed and sixty injured in the Graf Spee.

One report states that the captain and officers of the Graf Spee went down with the ship, but the Buenos Aires radio reported that the captain was the last man to leave.